Supersonics Make All The Right Moves

INSIDE THE NBA

November 4, 1993|By Tim Povtak of The Sentinel Staff

By adding guard Kendall Gill to their mix at midsummer, the Seattle SuperSonics kept pace with both the Phoenix Suns and the Portland Trail Blazers, who also made key personnel moves to improve in the off-season.

By adding forward Detlef Schrempf earlier this week, they may have passed the other two contenders.

Seattle, with its swarming, pressing defense, has become the team to fear in the West. It might be another season away from winning the NBA title because leaders Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton still need seasoning, but it has compiled a roster that is loaded with all the right elements.

A starting lineup of Payton and Gill in the backcourt and Schrempf, Kemp and Sam Perkins on the frontline could be the most talented in the league. Bringing Ricky Pierce and Michael Cage off the bench gives the Sonics everything they need.

''They have to be real happy right now,'' said John Gabriel, the Magic's director of player personnel. ''They will have an excellent starting lineup and good depth. You can't ask for much more.''

The SuperSonics, who narrowly lost to the Suns last season in the Western Conference finals, were fortunate to get both Schrempf (from Indiana) and Gill (from Charlotte), an All-Star and a potential All-Star, respectively.

Both players forced their respective teams to trade them. Both could have have become unrestricted free agents after the season, and both vowed not to re-sign, which meant the teams would have received nothing in return. Neither team wanted to take that chance.

Schrempf, a 6-10 forward, gives the Sonics a versatile veteran to add to a relatively young team. He played his college basketball at Washington and already had built a beautiful home there. He felt like the Pacers would never be more than a .500 team. He asked for Seattle, and he got it.

The guess here is that the Sonics will need another year trying to get so many good players, so many egos, playing together. In Indiana, Schrempf often needed the ball in his hands too long to be effective, instead of working without it. Gill is good, but he already thinks he is great.

Although the Magic, with Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee Hardaway, and the Charlotte Hornets, with Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson, could be the best teams in the league by the end of the decade, the Eastern Conference as a whole today is lacking compared to the Western Conference.

The best players still are moving West. A year ago, the Suns landed Charles Barkley from Philadelphia. This year, they add A.C. Green from the Lakers. Seattle gets Gill and Schrempf. Portland gets Harvey Grant from Washington and Chris Dudley from New Jersey. San Antonio gets Dennis Rodman from Detroit. All of those teams improved with the moves they made.

''I wouldn't trade our team for anyone else's, but the West just keeps getting tougher and tougher,'' Phoenix coach Paul Westphal said. ''We got better in the off-season, but I don't even consider us the favorites in the West for this season.''

Look who will be in the starting lineup this weekend for the New Jersey Nets. Center Dwayne Schintzius, the former Florida Bad Boy, still has doubters around the league, but he will get the chance now to prove them wrong. Schintzius, who has averaged just 3.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in his career, has played just 80 games in his three seasons. He was projected as a backup this season, but Benoit Benjamin will be out for a week or two with a urinary infection. Schintzius, thanks to the offer sheet he signed this summer with Milwaukee, has a unique clause in his contract that will give him a $500,000 bonus if he averages fewer than 24 minutes per game for the Nets. His only backup now is veteran Rick Mahorn. . . . Former Magic player Morlon Wiley got caught in a numbers game in Dallas again and was released Wednesday.